With the official, January 24th start of the 2014 Hit Like A Girl female drumming contest just days away, drummers, fans and the general public can now visit www.hitlikeagirlcontest.com to view videos of past winners and learn about this year’s sponsors, prizes and celebrity judges as well as how to participate in the popular, international drumming contest for women and girls. The new site also features a selection of free, downloadable “Groove Essentials” play-along tracks courtesy of Tommy Igoe and Hudson Music.

Weekly Winners Win GoPro Cameras
The 2014 contest will once again be divided into under and over 18 age divisions however, to create a more exciting and inclusive event for the drumming community, the voting and judging process has been revised and improved. During the five-week entry period (January 24 through February 28), two-woman teams consisting of a celebrity drummer and an industry representative will choose four weekly winners. The “mini-contest” judging will bring well-known drummers including Jess Bowen, Meytal Cohen, Hannah Ford and Emmanuelle Caplette together with the top female executives in the drum business, such as Craigie Zildjian and Sarah Hagen (Zildjian), Angela Zammit (D’Addario), Mindy Abovitz (Tom Tom) and others. Each week a different pair of judges will select two finalists in each age group with all weekly winners moving on to the finals and the upper age division “Drummers Of The Week” receiving a GoPro video camera.

Fan Voting Determines Wild Card Finalists
Once the entry period ends, three weeks of open, online voting by fans and friends will determine ten additional finalists from each age division. The combined finalists from the weekly selection and popular voting phases will then be rated by a panel of judges made up of a who’s-who of leading female drumming professionals from around the world. The list of confirmed and invited judges for the finals round also includes Dawn Richardson (US), Senri Kawaguchi (Japan), Cherisse-Ofosu-Osei (UK), Emily Dolan-Davies (UK), Samantha Maloney (US), Nia Lovelis, and many others to be named shortly. Plus last year’s Hit Like A Girl champions Val Sepulveda and Alexey Poblete will serve as judges for the contest. The 2014 Hit Like A Girl Contest winners, will be announced on special, Drum Channel event on Thursday, April 10.

Thanks to the generous support of these companies the 2014 Hit Like A Girl Contest will be able to provide participants and winners with $20,000+ worth of drums, cymbals, heads, sticks, accessories and media coverage. In addition, the 2014 Hit Like A Girl Contest champion in the upper age division will have an opportunity to perform at the 2014 PAS International Convention, November 19–22, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

For More Information
Contestants may enter with their bio and video on January 24, 2014 at 12:01 AM. For more information follow the contest on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hitlikeagirlcontest or visit the website http://www.hitlikeagirlcontest.com.